Page 94 of Shadowborne: Reckoning

“If I see you touch one servant, one maid, one noblewoman who looks even hesitant, I will tell all of them. The king. Hanson. Everyone. And I will tell them everything.”

His upper lip curled back in a sneer. “You’ll tell them that you, a commoner, took a Furyknight squad like a she-boar lays down for her piglets?” he rasped.

The blow landed, but I didn’t let him see it. I smiled. “Do you know I have the ear of our queen, Ruin? Diaan sat me at her table and introduced me to her friends. I gathered evidence of her husband’s infidelities. Alexi may like you, but Diaan will not. Not when I tell her what you are.”

His expression didn’t change, but that only meant he didn’t want me to see what he felt.

I smiled wider and leaned closer. “I’ll tell them you raped me. I'll tell them your entire squad was filthy and criminal and utterly dishonorable. I’ll tell them why the dragons called judgment on their own riders. And even if the king still tries to stand in your stead, he will have to choose between keeping you as his pet, or keeping his powerful wife. Trust me. You will lose.”

He sneered, but his throat jumped against the twist I had on his cravat. “You’re just a jealous, emotional woman who has no business being in the field. The king doesn’t just like me, Brenny. He trusts me—”

“The king didn’t tell you that he’d raised a woman, did he?” The words just tumbled out—and were immediately followed by a wave of fear. He wasn’t supposed to know! But then I caught how still he’d gone, and the question in his eyes, though he didn’t respond.

I smiled and inspiration struck. We needed this man to send another message. And I thought I knew how to be certain he would. “Did the king tell you that he personally raised me to First Rank? That the queen attended my pinning to Furyknight?”

Ruin snorted his skepticism. “You aren’t a Fury—”

“I am the silent breath, the unseen flame. My loyalty is to Shadowfang—above blood, above name, above love…” It was with breathless satisfaction that I recited the Shadowfang vow to him and watched his eyes widen first in shock, then horror, as I did so. Because he knew, no one knew the vow except those who’d taken it. And Donavyn was far too honorable to have shared it, even with a mate.

“I forsake comfort, favor, and the weight of my past. I bind my will to the mission, my heart to the cause, and my soul to the Creator’s flame that forged us.

“I will serve where others cannot, and walk with those I do not trust, if it leads to the truth that must be claimed. I will protect my brothers to the death, and carry what they learn to the good of the kingdom.”

He started to struggle, trying to pull out of my grip, and I wouldn’t be able to hold him off long, so I hurried to get the rest out. “I am weapon and whisper, watcher and wraith. No duty shall hold me tighter, no oath but this shall try me.

“Sworn in the darkness, witnessed by the Divine. Bound to my soul… Until I am ash, under the eyes of God, I am Shadowfang.”

Finally, he ripped my grip free, both hands, burning my palm with the friction of the slick material pulling too quickly through my hands, and shoved me back two paces. I caught myself, but I was smiling genuinely now, while Ruin stood there, trying not to bend over and cough, red-faced and panting, glowering at me in disbelief.

“No one told you, did they?” I whispered. “Maybe they don’t trust you as much as you think they do? Or… maybe you aren’t as important to them as they’ve implied? Maybe… maybe you aren’t the only one the king… enjoys?”

God, I hated leaning into that angle, but I knew that if Ruin had an in with either the king or queen, believing that I held the same grip on them would make him question his security.

Sure enough, his gaze turned dark.

“Donavyn’s a controlling bastard. He’d never share a woman, even his whore—”

“Ask your contacts about me, Ruin,” I whispered, grinning wildly, though I felt nauseous. “Whoever gives you information from back home, ask them. And when you find out that I’m not telling a single word of a lie, then you take this very, very seriously: If you so much as touch a woman’s hair without her permission, I will cut your dick off in your sleep. And then I will disappear, and they’ll think it was some upset servant that you raped instead.”

I made myself lean up and pat his face. Ruin jerked away, his eyes blazing with rage—but I saw the flash of doubt behind that anger and it made me smile more.

He opened his mouth. My guts quivered at what he might spew at me, but just then a servant darted into the hallway and called for me.

“Lady Brennan, the General sent me to find you. He is angry, my lady.”

I didn’t take my eyes of Ruin.

Fuck. Fuck. Voski was still in his room. But if I didn’t go, he’d think I’d done more than wait for him outside his locked room. “Fare thee well, Ruin Galdec,” I said as I sauntered away, using the growing distance as an excuse to raise my voice in the hope that Voski had enough time to either find a secret passage, or to hide well.

Then, hands gripping my skirts so he couldn’t see them tremble, I stepped past him with my heart pounding in my ears.

I couldn’t help smiling though.

The expression on his face was… priceless.

32. Whispers and Curses

~ BREN ~